Home / Proof Marks / Liège — the Perron

Liège — the Perron

Belgian (Liège) proof marks · 1672-1810 as the sole proof mark; 1853 to today as an inspection mark.
What it looks like
A small stylised monument on a plinth, sometimes very worn.
Where it is on the gun
Barrel and frame.
Date range
1672-1810 as the sole proof mark; 1853 to today as an inspection mark.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

One of the oldest marks in continuous use in Europe. Until it was dropped in 1810 the Perron was the sole Liège proof mark; since 1853 it has indicated inspection or proof of the breeching system. On an early gun it is often the only proof mark present, which makes it the whole of the evidence.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It is not applied to revolvers, and after 1853 it is not a proof of the barrel. Reading a nineteenth-century Perron as a barrel proof overstates what the stamp says — by then the definitive barrel proof was a different mark.

Sources for this page

Every claim above is attributed. The class of source is shown with each one, because a national proof house and an anonymous forum table are not the same evidence — and on proof marks the difference matters.

Reading marks to identify and date a gun

Proof marks name the test and the era. The serial number, where a maker published a browsable chart, can name the year. The lookup cites the threshold behind every result.

Open the serial number lookup

Other belgian (liège) proof marks

Mark descriptions observed and verified 2026-10-14. Proof marks are stamped by hand on guns up to a century old; a photographed stamp and a description in a book are not the same evidence. If a mark on your gun does not match anything here, that is a real answer — see the notes on unidentified marks.